Magnesium has the lowest density among the commercially available structural metals and its superior physical and mechanical properties make magnesium alloys extremely attractive for applications requiring lightweight, good castability and damping capacity. In recent years, due to the demand for lightweight magnesium components in the automobile and electronic industries, the world market for magnesium alloys has increased rapidly. At the same time, the research activities on
manufacturing process and characterization of magnesium alloys have also increased significantly. The research activities have been concentrated on many different fields, including the development of high pressure die casting process and semi-solid processing, development of high strength wrought alloys and components, and characterization of microstructure, mechanical properties as well as corrosion properties. In this article, the recent progresses achieved in these research areas at Seoul National University will be introduced.